after hurricane sandy, we examine the impact the federal emergencies have on telecommunications systems. amongst our guests, the vice president of the regulatory affairs association, and congressman rangel, the serves on the commerce committee. -- who serves on the commerce committee. alan krueger spoke today at a briefing about the economy and consumer confidence. this is a little more than one hour. >> special guests. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. thank you for your patience. we decided that it would be beneficial to you to have alan krueger joining me here today, as you know. he co-authored a report from the white house on the impact of middle-class tax hikes if they were to occur on retailers and consumer spending. that report is available on whitehouse.gov, if you have not read it. he authored this report for cyber monday. i hope that your delay led to extra purchases online using private computers not your company's computers. i want to turn it over to allen, who can take your questions on the importance of extending the tax cuts for the middle-class. thanks very much. >>